In our quest to follow in the footsteps of America’s revolutionary forefathers, we headed up the Hudson Valley and into New York’s North Country. It’s hard to imagine that this now peaceful landscape once served as a decisive theater of war. From 1775 to 1779, the corridor stretching from New York City to the Canadian border played an outsize role in the fight for independence, culminating in the pivotal 1777 victory at Saratoga, widely considered the turning point of the Revolution.

Today, this same region makes for an unexpectedly appealing road trip. We began in Manhattan and eventually reached the Adirondacks, where we used the town of Lake Placid as a base for an excursion to historic Fort Ticonderoga. From there, we looped back south to Saratoga Springs, one of America’s first resort towns, to tour the Saratoga Battlefield.

Between battlefield visits and museum tours, we also discovered destination restaurants and one-of-a-kind boutiques. Throughout, we enjoyed magnificent autumn foliage. The hotels we reviewed fell short, but fortunately, we already have outstanding recommended properties along the route.